Relive the Classic Everquest Experience as it was from 1999 to 2001. Project 1999 is a free to play Classic Everquest Server, unaffiliated with Daybreak Game Company but operating under legal permission. Our goal is to restore the magic and difficulty of the original Everquest game, including the mechanics, interface, and challenges of Original Content, Kunark, and Velious. Project 1999 is the most popular and most accurate reincarnation of Old School Everquest.

Item Removal: Several items that should not have been in the game prior to the Temple of Solusek Ro have been removed from inventories.

Code

Rogean: Rewrote the Proc Chance formula to more accurately take attack speed into account, to achieve 2 Procs Per Minute given max Dexterity and regardless of attack speed. Dexterity still has a large affect on proc chance. In most cases, this has resulted in a slight increase in chance to proc.

Rogean: Players bound in North Karana before the appropriate timeline will now have their bind points changed to East Commonlands.

The staff has been keeping an eye on how recharging has been affecting the use of various items on the server. Recharging is a mechanic that existed in Classic but was not very widely known or utilized. While this is not an issue in most cases, there are a few cases of it now being abused. Some examples of these items being used in a very unclassic and unintended way is an entire raid force using bags worth of an instant cast direct damage click items to blast a raid mob dead in less than a minute. Another situation is the use of these items to bypass the normal hate/aggro building mechanics of the game. Yet another case is the use of certain items to allow a low level player to defeat large groups of higher level mobs, effectively solo powerlevelling.

All of these are only possible because of the Recharge system, since it is simply a matter of cost (in some cases a very low cost) of being able to restore the max charges of the item. However, the staff has had several discussions and does not feel that disabling Recharging would be the right action to take at this time. Instead, we feel that it is better to identify the specific items that are being abused, and make balancing changes to them. This includes changing the buyback price (and in one case removing the ability to sell the item to merchants), and adding cast times to some of the items.

We will not be listing out the specific changes. Rather, players will need to discover them on their own.

Code

Rogean: Resolved an issue with Bellycasting.

Rogean: Resolved an issue where group heal spells were generating way more aggro than they should.

Rogean: Adjusted Rune spell aggro to be more in line with direct healing spells.

Haynar: Added pathing fixes.

Haynar: Added spell and mob push fixes.

Haynar: Added a fix for when mobs summon players, that was not updating z position correctly.

We are pushing out a small patch today to implement some pathing code changes, as well as an overhaul of the Zone Experience Modifiers (ZEMs).

Code Patch Notes

Haynar:Made changes to pathing which were causing large races to fall below World. This also caused mobs to fall through bridge at VP entrance, causing weird pathing in lava around zone in.

Haynar:Fixed a bug with spell and combat push, which could cause mobs to fall below world.

Update Friday, March 27th: The pathing changes have been reverted for now.

Zone Experience Modifiers
With today's patch we are doing a complete re-evaluation of the Zone Experience Modifiers (ZEMs) of all Classic-era Zones. These ZEMs have not been looked at for a long time on the project, and having looked at them, there was a lot of disparity between them. We feel that adjusting these will help restore some balance between underutilized and overutilized zones. The majority of zones are receiving a change to their value.

Starting with outdoor zones, we aimed for a baseline that all of these zones should be at. We then addressed dungeons and special zones, taking into consideration their risk vs reward and typical population numbers. This has resulted in the following changes.

Note that the ZEM is only one small part of a large formula that calculates overall experience gain. This includes other factors such as the number of members in a group, the con level of the mob, your race/class modifiers, and others. As a result, the actual change that you notice may be less than what is reflected below.

We will be keeping an eye on the results of these changes and may make further adjustments as necessary.

South Qeynos was not changed.
North Qeynos was increased by 33%.
Surefall Glade was not changed.
Qeynos Hills was increased by 33%.
Highpass Hold was increased by 25%.
High Keep was reduced by 25%.
North Freeport was increased by 33%.
West Freeport was increased by 33%.
East Freeport was increased by 33%.
Runnyeye Citadel was increased by 50%.
Western Plains of Karana was increased by 33%.
Northern Plains of Karana was increased by 33%.
Southern Plains of Karana was increased by 33%.
Eastern Plains of Karana was increased by 33%.
Gorge of King Xorbb was increased by 100%.
Blackburrow was increased by 25%.
Infected Paw was increased by 67%.
Rivervale was not changed.
Kithicor Woods was increased by 33%.
West Commonlands was increased by 33%.
East Commonlands was increased by 33%.
Erudin Palace was not changed.
Erudin was not changed.
The Nektulos Forest was increased by 33%.
Lavastorm Mountains was increased by 33%.
Halas was increased by 33%.
Everfrost was increased by 33%.
Solusek's Eye was reduced by 4%
Nagafen's Lair was reduced by 6%
Misty Thicket was increased by 33%.
Northern Desert of Ro was increased by 33%.
Southern Desert of Ro was increased by 33%.
Befallen was reduced by 22%.
Oasis of Marr was increased by 33%.
Toxxulia Forest was increased by 33%.
The Hole was increased by 50%.
Neriak Foreign Quarter was not changed.
Neriak Commons was not changed.
Neriak Third Gate was not changed.
Najena was reduced by 4%.
Qeynos Aqueduct System was increased by 25%.
Innothule Swamp was increased by 33%.
The Feerrott was increased by 33%.
Lost Temple of Cazic-Thule was increased by 76%.
Oggok was increased by 33%.
Rathe Mountains was increased by 33%.
Lake Rathetear was increased by 33%.
Grobb was not changed.
Greater Faydark was increased by 33%.
Ak'Anon was not changed.
Steamfont Mountains was increased by 33%.
Lesser Faydark was increased by 33%.
Crushbone was reduced by 22%.
Castle Mistmoore was reduced by 3%.
South Kaladim was increased by 33%.
Northern Felwithe was not changed.
Southern Felwithe was increased by 33%.
Estate of Unrest was reduced by 13%.
Kedge Keep was increased by 63%.
Guk (Top) was reduced by 17%
Ruins of Old Guk (Bottom) was reduced by 6%.
North Kaladim was increased by 33%.
Butcherblock Mountains was increased by 33%.
Ocean of Tears was increased by 33%.
Dagnor's Cauldron was increased by 33%.
Plane of Air was not changed.
Plane of Fear was not changed.
Permafrost Caverns was increased by 88%.
Kerra Isle was increased by 11%.
Paineel was increased by 33%.
Plane of Hate was not changed.
Erud's Crossing was increased by 33%.

With Llandris recently taking a step back from Lead GM Duties, Menden has agreed to step into the role and take over running the CSR Department. He has decided to bring Galach and Medris up to Senior Guide as well. Llandris will be remaining in a GM capacity to assist when he's able to.

Congratulations and thank you to all the CSR Staff for their dedication.

It is with great displeasure that I have to announce that I will he stepping down as GM and moving to mostly inactive status. Quite a few things have changed over the past 4+ years and I find myself without much time to donate to the project, and thatís not fair to you all. My main mission, after Sirkens departure, was to beef up the staff, iron out rules/expectations for Green, and create a healthier raid scene (this involved me spending hours And hours mediating between leaders). I feel like I have accomplished these things, and the next GM should have a smooth transition, whoever that may be.

Anyway, I just wanted to take this opportunity to say Thank you. Iíve enjoyed my time here, not only as a staff member, but as a player as well. I wonít lie, I will miss it. Iíve been a part of this project since 2011. Iíve made lifetime friends (and enemies Iím sure). Iíve had the pleasure of working with some terrific staff members, past and present. These guys made it a pleasure putting in thousands of hours of time. Thank you especially to nilbog and Rogean for trusting me with your baby.